Classis Draco-Academy
by xXBanditXx
Summary: A spin on Star Trek: 2009 with DRAGONS. Starting with Academy years and ending a little bit after the Nero incident. Can the Enterprise squad protect their country or will all be lost. All the Characters are included in the story!
1. Chapter 1: First Encounters

AN: Short Chapter I know…but I wanna see if people are interested in reading it…enjoy! Review so I know if I should keep writing it.

"I may throw up on you."

Kirk looked at the scruffy looking man that had plopped down in the seat next to him who was currently yanking the seatbelt into place. Like Kirk, the man was out of place with his beat up jacket and a few days worth of beard on his face among the sea of red cadet uniforms.

"Think theses things are pretty safe." Kirk replied. The man next to him snorted.

"Don't pander to me kid, one tiny crack in the hull and we go plummeting to our deaths making nice little pancakes on the ground. One jostle by a rogue wind and we're free falling straight to our deaths And wait till you're sitting pretty with third degree burns that cover half your body. See if you're still relaxed when your head is in the jaws of death." Kirk sighed heavily as the man continued his rant.

"The sky is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and fire." The man finished speaking and looked a way with a huff of air. Kirk couldn't help but reply to the mans rant

"Well hate to break this to you but Dragon Fleet operates in the sky." He said shifting in his seat slightly noticing several cadets had slowly gone pale during the mans rant.

"Yeah well I got nowhere else to go. Ex-wife took the whole damn country in the divorce, all I got left is my bones." The man muttered unscrewing a flask and taking a swig of whatever was in there. He regarded Kirk for a brief moment and tilted the flask towards him. Kirk raised an eyebrow and took the flask from him.

"Jim Kirk." He said raising the flask in salute, taking a swig of the liquid, which turned out to be a very strong whiskey.

"McCoy, Leonard McCoy." The man said watching Kirk take a swig from the flask. With a shudder the shuttle was airborne and began the flight to San Francisco.

"So Aviophobia?" Kirk said handing the flask back. McCoy or _Bones_, which Kirk had dubbed him in his mind, raised an eyebrow and began another rant on flying and the dangers of it that made the cadets around them shift uncomfortably.


	2. Chapter 2: Rough Day

A/N: *sheepishly appears* I couldn't resist posting another chapter...ehehehe. Review pretty pretty please!

3 Weeks Later…

McCoy groaned into his pillow, every leg muscle ached and any movement causing searing fire to shoot up his legs. For the first time since joining the academy he appreciated the bed he was given. Leonard sighed and rolled onto his back making the springs squeal in protest but he didn't care he just wanted to get some sleep.

"BOOONNNNEESSSSS." Was the only warning he got before he was shot up into the air off his mattress by one James T. Kirk.

"Jesus chri-" McCoy gasped, heart pounding as he landed back onto the bed next to the blonde who was grinning like a mad man. Kirk was wearing his workout uniform, the fleet approved white shirt with gray shorts, which means he just got back from the required physical training class. The odor permeating from his was also another factor.

"Christ, Kid have you ever heard of a shower or clean clothes?" McCoy grumbled sitting up wincing as he did. Kirk smiled and flopped onto his back onto McCoy's bed.

"That's not important right now Bones. What's important is that it's a lovely Friday evening and you are laying in bed staring at the ceiling, thinking about god knows what." Kirk said only moving his eyes to look at McCoy.

"I wasn't thinking, I was complaining." Bones retorted using his foot in an attempt to kick Kirk off the bed. Kirk latched onto his leg with both hands and the brief struggle resulted in Kirk falling off the bed and Bones being half dragged off with him. Bones growled and scrambled to stand up. Letting out a groan as he did, Kirk snorted still laying on the floor looking at Leonard

"Don't tell me you're still saddle sore Bones!" He said using the bed to pull himself up and sat back down onto the bed.

"Well I'm not as young and flexible as you and the other cadets are so yes I am very saddle sore." Bones snapped from the bedroom door. He wandered into the living room and took in the mess that it was currently in.

He was glad when he found out that he would have a two-bedroom dorm with a kitchen and a living room, instead of a one-room dorm with a communal bathroom and a basement kitchen. Heck he didn't even mind having a roommate; He'd been there done that. He knew the rules, stay out of roommate's way and try not to make a mess.

Sadly though his roommate was one James Kirk who seems to have never heard of those rules and wasn't intent on learning them. So when he knocked on McCoy's door that first day with duffle bag slung over his shoulder, his blue eyes wide in surprise before a grin light up his whole face, and brushing past a stunned McCoy clapping him on the back as he did. McCoy knew it was going to be a long three years.

Bones sighed and began picking up dishes that were left on the table complements of Kirk and his morning dash earlier this morning. His legs were still burning, but he resolved to at least clean the dorm up a little bit and made his way to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

_Confusion. _

Bones stiffened, he wasn't used to the sudden intrusion of his thoughts yet so when a small voice suddenly bloomed in the back of his head, he couldn't help but to freeze by the sink. He looked over to the couch where silver eyes regarded him over a snoring mass of gold. He sighed and put the dishes in the sink,

"I'm not tired anymore." He grumbled as he turned on the faucet and began rinsing the dishes.

_Pain?_

He felt concern and wariness flow through the link and he brushed them off.

"I'm fine, just a little sore from today that's all nothing to worry about." He said turning back to the sink and setting a wet dish on the counter. He heard a thump and a click of talons on tiles before he felt hot air and something solid against the back of his knee.

_ Worried. _

Bones sighed and turned around to look down at his dragon. It was small, having to stretch its neck to push against the back McCoy's knee. It was a dark blue with a lighter blue on its underside. The little wings were also a dark blue and pressed against her side blending in almost seamlessly. Her face was long with little stubs for horns on the top of her head.

Silver eyes looked at McCoy worriedly and it pressed its muzzle into his leg again. Bones sighed and ignored his muscles protests, and crouched down and scratched the scales on the side of its head; the little dragon closed its eyes and leaned into McCoy's touch letting out a little growl as he scratched.

Bones had dubbed her Cordelia when she hatched, Delia for short. She was stubborn like he was. Refusing to leave Leonard when they took her away for some testing and vaccines when she hatched. Even going as far as to bite one of the dragon handlers almost taking off his pinky. McCoy had to take out his portable regenerator and heal the mans hand before going back to his dorm with her perched on his shoulder like a little parrot. She was much to big for that know but sometimes when McCoy was sitting on the couch reading a PADD, she would try to climb onto his shoulder and sit there much to his annoyance and to Kirk's delight.

"I said I'm fine don't worry about it okay? I'm just old with creaky bones."

"Yeah that's why his name is Bones." A voice said from the living room. Bones rolled his eyes and stood back up and spotting Jim by the table gathering the rest of the dishes. He smiled at Bones and carried the dishes into the kitchen and placed them in the sink.

_Annoyance_

Bones smirked at the feeling that reverberated through the link from Delia. She was glaring at Jim since he stopped Bones from scratching her favorite spot. Kirks dragon dubbed Asher or Ash for short had taken the opportunity to claw his way onto the counter and sit there perched like a cat, his head tilted to one side, his black eyes staring at Delia in amusement. Kirk claims he named him Asher because he will make ashes of his enemies when he's older. He was already trying to live up to his name having already set fire to the curtains once when he sneezed.

"Come one Bones lets take the kids to the park let them run around and stretch their wings!" Kirk had dubbed Delia and Asher the kids when upon their first meeting proceeded to fight over a spot on the couch. Resulting in a deep gouges in the couch and a green patch sewn on poorly compliments of Kirk. Jim had laughed and said they fought like him and his brother Sam did when they were younger.

Bones sighed and dragged a hand down his face closing his eyes; he was tired and sore from a rough day of riding practice, falling off over and over resulting in the current soreness and probably bruises by morning. He was also dealing with the after effects of dealing with his phobia by himself all day making him even more tired. All he wanted to do was lay on his bed and drink something strong. He opened his eyes and looked at Delia who though wasn't showing any emotion was firing off emotions across the link

_Excitement. Happy. Hopeful. _

Asher wasn't so subtle, shifting from foot to foot and wagging his tail back and forth and looking at Kirk hopefully. Being cooped up all day in the dorm was tough on the baby dragons. Regulations required that baby dragons have to bond with their riders until they are a month old before they start training with them but they couldn't take them to classes So during the day McCoy or Kirk would swing by and take them to a fenced in area near the dorms for baby dragons so they could stretch their legs but it wasn't enough sometimes. So Kirk and Bones both agreed that during the weekends they would try and take Asher and Delia out as much as possible.

"C'mon Bones, I'll even bring us a little something!" Kirk looked as excited as the dragons were.

"Fine let's go, we have a few hours before it gets dark." Bones said walking to the bathroom to grab some pain pills to ease the ache in his muscles. He walked back out to see Asher in front of the dorm door and Delia next to him, both staring at the keypad as if they could will it to open the door by sheer will power. Kirk came out of McCoy's bedroom tossing him his jacket, already wearing his. He smiled and grabbed a bottle of brown liquid that had magically appeared on the counter and headed for the door.

"You coming Bones?" Kirk asked opening the front door and stepping out of the way as the dragons scrambled out into the hallway.

"Yeah I'm coming."


	3. Chapter 3: Recreational Drinking

AN: Just so you know my chapters are short. Once in a while I may unleash a monster of a chapter but usually I won't. I just don't like long chapters! Srry if that bugs anyone! Anyways enjoy! And review ,review, review!

The air was chilly when they got to the park. Kirk burrowed deeper into his jacket regretting not changing into some jeans or sweats. He looked out to the view of the Golden Gate Bridge against the setting sun. Bones trudged alongside him gripping the bottle he just handed to him his cheeks red from the wind. Ash and Delia had gone on ahead once the entered the park, running and leaping up into the air trying to gliding a little before they came crashing back into the ground. It was jokingly called a flutter run in Dragon Fleet, baby dragons would get too excited and think running was to slow so they would try to glide at the same time, most of the time it was just adorable rather than useful. The park was empty, everyone having left when the wind started coming in from the bay. They had the park to themselves.

_Excitement. Curiosity. Delia. Chase. _

Asher was unrestrained in his link letting his emotions run on endlessly. Kirk had learned to ignore Ash most of the time and tried to send soothing emotions to calm him down like Bones suggested one evening when Kirk was sporting a rather bad headache because of Asher's incessant chatter on the link. It only seemed to work for a few seconds before a fresh wave of emotion poured out from him. Kirk sighed and just pushed the link to the back of his mind.

The link was strange thing and new to Kirk, like Bones he wasn't used to a little voice in the back of his mind but once he got used to it he found it fun. He'd been slowly expanding the link since Asher hatched and he could now hear Asher across campus, much to Asher's delight. He didn't know how Bones was progressing with the link but it must have been a going well the way Bones was frowning right now.

"Oh cheer up Bones let her just babble to ya. You can work on her about controlling it when her training starts." Kirk said steering them to a park bench. They sat down and watched their dragons explore the bushes and chase each other. Bones unscrewed the bottle and took a swig wincing as he swallowed.

"Where did you get this crap?" he asked handing the bottle to Jim. Jim shrugged and took a swallow restraining his grimace because the drink really did taste like crap.

"Kid in my tactics class hooked me up." He said placing the bottle between them. They sat in silence for a while enjoying the evening air and making sure their dragons didn't get into trouble.

"So wanna tell me what happened today?" He asked after a little while. He had overheard a conversation today between some first years, about how a older looking cadet couldn't get the hang of flying on the grounds and kept biting the dust literally and proverbially. Kirk knew they were talking about Bones and from what he gathered from the cadet's conversation; it wasn't a good day for Bones.

"What do you think happened?" Bones huffed grabbing the bottle from between them taking a long swallow before he started talking again. "I was fine till the damn dragon launched himself into the air and well from there I just couldn't get the hang of it. 'Kept slipping off and he would have to keep diving to catch me. Or I would start panicking and he would feel my heart rate climb and land so I didn't have a heart attack and die on him." Kirk snorted a laugh and Bones smacked him on the arm glaring at him.

Bones didn't like talking about things he couldn't do. Give him a lacerated Achilles tendon and he can fix it up in no time. Broken wing? He doesn't even bat an eyelash. But flying was something else entirely for him and he just couldn't seem to get the hang of it.

"Well maybe it will be better when you start riding Delia." Kirk prompted taking the bottle from Bones hands and taking a small sip. He couldn't wait to sit atop Ash and start flying with him, to feel the wind whip around him and being able to push Ash to his limits without even a word. His mom used to tell him, his dad loved to fly with Apollo, soaring over the skies with the Kelvin squad and his wife by his side.

Until that fated day when they were attacked by a unknown squad and his father and Apollo made the ultimate sacrifice to dive headlong into the squad taking out as many as they could before they fell out of the sky into the ocean never to be seen again. Kirk shook his head to scatter his thoughts and took a longer drink of the foul concoction before handing it back to Bones who took another swig before speaking.

"Yeah, I hope so. I don't want her to be grounded cause I'm to scared to fly with her." Bones said looking at Delia who was busy climbing up and gliding off a boulder, getting a little bit further with each glide. Asher was content to chase after Delia when she landed, bowling her over since he was bigger than her by a few pounds and inches. But Delia was more agile able to slip out from under him and run back to the boulder.

When both dragons suddenly stopped playing and looked up to the sky, Kirk focused on the link to hear what Asher was thinking. He saw Bones doing the same thing with Delia.

_Danger. Protect Rider. Caution. Curious. _

Bones was asking what Kirk thought it was when a roar overhead answered his question. A gold dragon glided low overhead. Kirk recognized the silver bangle on the dragon's front leg from the bar in Iowa where Captain Pike challenged him to enlist in Dragon Fleet. The dragon roared again in greeting and Delia and Asher ran back to Bones and Kirk as the dragon dipped its wings and began descending into the park. Asher and Delia skidded to halt in front of Kirk and Bones both of them had whipped around to face the bigger dragon, their wings outstretched trying to look as fierce as possible with their lips drawn back showing little sharp fangs. It reminded Kirk of puppies that tried to look fierce in front of their moms.

The other dragon landed smoothly a few yards away sending up a whirlwind of leaves as it folded its wings and crouched down to let its rider off. A man slid off the dragons backs and started towards them. Delia and Asher were still trying to look intimidating but Kirk felt Asher's emotions shift slightly when he saw the man.

_Friend. Rider. Wary._

Bones had bent down and was stroking Delia's back calming her down with soft reassuring words. Delia shifted a little beginning to realize that the other dragon had no intention of attacking Bones and dropped her wings slowly. Asher noticed Delia relaxing and started to drop his wings too.

"You've got some pretty fierce hatchlings their cadets." Christopher Pike said as he stopped in front of the two cadets looking at the two hatchlings in amusement. Kirk started to rise ready to salute but Pike waved his hand dismissively.

"At ease I was just getting a flight in before it got dark and noticed you two…or well Raja did." He said gesturing to his dragon, which was laying down now inspecting its wings.

"We were just letting Asher and Delia have some fun too before bed." Kirk replied.

"What brings you hear captain?" Bones asked bluntly not bothering with the small talk. Pike looked at him a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Heard about the rough flight training today Cadet McCoy, don't worry you'll get the hang of it soon if not with the training dragon then with yours for sure." Pike said not bothering to hide his smile anymore. McCoy grunted and looked down at the ground muttering about something that neither Pike nor Kirk could hear.

"Actually I was here with a proposition for Cadet Kirk. Possibly to-" Pike stopped as he shifted his gaze to Jim who was busily trying to keep Asher to stay off his lap who was desperately trying to get between Jim and Pike. Jim embarrassed by Asher in front of Captain Pike, sent anger and annoyance across the link to his dragon.

Asher froze as the emotions came to him. He tucked his head and stopped struggling and slid off of Jim and laid down on the ground next to his feet looking very much like a kicked puppy. Delia abandoned her spot in front of Bones and plopped down next to Asher and put her head on top of his all the while making a soft huffing noise. Kirk felt a pang of regret; he shouldn't have been so quick to send those emotions across the link.

"As I was saying," Pike continued, "I was wondering if you would help Cadet McCoy with his flight training. He's a good doctor and I need him in a squad or at least a flight base when he's graduated." Bones snapped his head back up to Pike so fast, Kirk swore he heard Bones neck break.

"What!? I don't need private lessons from Kirk, Captain! I'm doing fine on my own!" Bones said hotly.

"That's not what I heard from the instructor. She said you got on five times and you couldn't even get to thirty feet before something went wrong. You need all the help you can get. Don't force me to make this and order Cadet." Pike said sternly. Bones glared at Pike like he wanted to keep arguing but he kept his mouth shut. Delia hissed quietly from her spot next to Asher, her silver eyes narrowed on Pike. Pike's dragon Raja must have sensed the change in the mood; she lifted her head and dug her talons into the ground suddenly growing tense ready to spring into action if need be. Pike was unaffected by his dragons change of mood and looked back at Kirk.

"If you do this I'll take you off stable clearing for a month." Jim smiled a little at the thought of not clearing out stables for a month while the other first years slaved away.

"Captain, I think you may have a deal." Jim smiled and offered his hand, which Pike shook, sealing the deal.

"Well I'll leave you to it gentleman." Pike said turning and walking back to Raja who stretching out and getting ready to fly again. Pike was a few steps away when he stopped and turned to look at them again.

"By the way you know the rules cadets. No alcohol on campus."


	4. Chapter 4: Learning to Fly

AN: Slowly getting to the goods...I am now taking request for a few dragons names...like Spock's dragon and Uhura's and well hell damn crew pretty much. Thanks for reading! and again I love love love reviews!

"One last time Bones."

"I'm don't want to do it anymore today Jim."

"Bones you got up to pretty high last time all you have to do is go about 100 more feet and you pass the class."

"Dammit Jim I'm a Doctor not a Dragon rider!"

Bones was sitting atop Gladaus who was rolling his eyes at the two cadets currently arguing next to him. Jim had his dragon riding gear on, his goggles pushed up to his forehead and his arms crossed over his chest glaring at Bones who was glaring back at him with equal ferocity.

"Bones one last time then we're done! And when you do this in class it will be as easy as breathing." Bones could see that he was trying not to get frustrated with him but Bones couldn't help that his fear overrode his rationality making ten feet sounding like an impossible challenge.

"Kirk we've been out here for hours even Asher and Delia are bored." Bones knew it was a weak tactic to involve their dragons, who were busy snoozing under a tree. Kirk knew it to and rolled his eyes at Bones. They had been on the flight field all day, every Saturday for four weeks now. With Jim's constant coaxing and mild threats at times, Bones finally managed to keep his fear suppressed well enough to go up in the air and stay up there, but only at fifty feet.

Jim sighed, "Fine, Bones"

"Glad you've seen reason now I'm goi-"

"Guess I'll just have to go up with you." Bone's brain took a second to process that sentence and by the time he did Jim was already boosting himself up with Gladaus's foreleg.

"Jim no you aren't, now I'm getting off before you do something even stupider."

"Put your goggles on Bones we're going for a ride." Jim said putting his feet in the spare stirrups and putting on his goggles behind Bones, who sighed and pulled his goggles up from around his neck, adjusting his footing in the stirrups as he did. There was no point in arguing with Jim once he got these fool ideas in his head. Doubling up with a dragon was challenging not physically but mentally. Dragons were emotional creatures and often focused on the rider's emotions to make sure nothing was wrong they were also telepathic and communicated to their riders via the link. Riding double meant that one person's mind had to be blank while the other communicated with the dragon. Jim grabbed Bone's shoulder,

"I'll go blank so you give the commands got it?" He said shaking Bones a little. Bones didn't have to look to know that Jim was grinning like a damn fool. Bones sighed and tightened his grip on the loops on the front of the saddle.

"Gladaus." The dragon shifted and rose to his feet and spread out his wings ready for the command.

"Fly" Bones had barely spoken the command and Gladaus launched himself up into the air with one wing beat. The wind tore around them as Gladaus quickly climbed the skies. Bones thoughts were chaos, torn between commanding Gladaus to land or to tell him to climb straight to the class passing height. Gladaus trained to ignore cadets rampart thoughts evened out about halfway. Tipping his wings, he began to fly in a lazy circle over the field, beating his wings once in a while to keep altitude and waited for Bones to give the command.

Bones was proud of himself that he could now be this high without feeling the need to throw up or shut his eyes. But the last hundred feet or so felt near impossible to him at the moment. He thought about all that Jim had taught him during the week, to control his breathing and take deep breaths so he could reassure himself that he could breath every foot he climbed. How to trust the dragon would catch him if he fell. Bones could feel Jim now behind him; he turned to look to see Jim staring at the view below them. Bones could tell Jim loved flying just by the way the kid wanted to fly every chance he got. Offering to take peoples dragons out to stretch their wings once in a while if they didn't have the time to.

Jim finally looked at Bones and smiled and gave him the thumbs up smiling as he did. Bones turned back and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He connected with Gladaus who was patiently waiting for him and told him to climb. Gladaus angled his body upwards beating his wings as he did. Bones gripped the straps tighter and tightened his legs around the saddle.

He felt Jim do the same thing behind him, he also heard Jim yell in excitement as they climbed. Bones stomach dropped, as it seemed to take forever for Gladaus to climb, he briefly wondered if he should have given clearer instruction to Gladaus. His fear was starting to rear its head, whispering to Bones that he had given the wrong command and that Gladaus was going to take them higher than class requirements. Bones heart rate began to pick up again and his breath came in shallow gasps. Bones was about to give the command to land when suddenly Gladaus evened out and began to circle once more.

Bones found himself higher in the sky than he thought he would ever get. He heard Jim behind him cheering but Bones couldn't hear anything with his blood roaring in his ears. Kirk was clapping Bones on the shoulder and started yelling in his ear about how he could land now. Bones though didn't feel like landing just yet, he was the highest he'd ever gone on a dragon and he wanted to savor it a little.

Later when they had thanked Gladaus with an extra ration of meat and settled him in his stable. Bones took Jim to a local bar and treated him to a round of drinks. Jim after a few more rounds he paid for himself commended himself on a job well done and proclaimed that Bones was to be his CMO when he got his own squad now that he could fly with them. Bones found himself not panicking at the thought of flying with a squad.

After helping a very talkative drunk Jim to bed later that night, Bones got to his own room and crawled into bed. It was a few moments later that he felt a weight on the bed and Delia was there, nudging his arm so she could sleep under it. He shifted over making room for her and when she settled down Bones only got on emotion from the link before she drifted off to sleep

_Proud. _


	5. Chapter 5: Bone Weary

AN: So I decided to split this puppy into two parts! Academy first then Nero! I don't know how long the academy part is going to be..I'll see how my plot works out first before deciding how many chapters. oh and I got a review and someone compared this to The Riders of Pern Series. I have heard of the series but I haven't read it. So if this fanfic is has some parallels to the series, I'm sorry that I got you excited thinking it would be like the series. 0/0"

* * *

Few months later-Winter

Jim tightened the straps under Asher's stomach, making Asher grunt.

_Does it have to be this tight?_

"Yes, because last time it fell off with me in it and do you know how much saddles cost? I used most of my credits this month buying a replacement."

_Maybe you should have…what's that word. The one that's like hoarding?"_

"You mean saving? And don't talk to me about saving! Most of my credits go to you for damaged and lost saddles and extra feeding rations. Besides you were the one who didn't catch the saddle." Jim replied getting up and brushing the dirt off his knees. Asher had craned his head towards him playing with the word Jim had just given him in his mind. Asher had shot up like a weed over the past few months.

Almost full grown now with just a few tons to go, His wings had already done growing, spanning 180 feet in length making him look odd and gangly, Bones called it the awkward teenager phase and had to keep from laughing every time Asher tried to press his wings to his side causing them to stick out like a sore thumb.

The doctors that came to check on him estimated his full weight would be fifty tons by the time he was done growing. Jim put a hand on Asher's foreleg scratching a spot where he knew the scales were dry. Asher pushed into Jim's touch and closed his eyes blissfully.

"I should get a stone and oil and try to get the dry scales off." Jim mumbled to himself. Asher cracked an eye and stared at Jim.

_If you stop scratching, I'm going to be very displeased. _

Jim laughed and patted Asher on the side, shaking his head.

"Now who taught you that word?" Jim questioned laughing. Asher snorted and nudged Jim who shoved him back lightly and walked into the equipment area coming back with a stone and a bottle of smelly oil.

_Delia, said it's a word that means unhappy or sad. She's been making Bones read to her before he leaves for the night." _

Jim smiled and poured some oil on the stone and started rubbing Asher's side. Bones had been quite literally working himself to the bones lately. Taking on more shifts than he could handle to keep up with his and Delia's expenses. Jim worked too, at the saddle shop located on campus and as a bouncer at the local cadet bar a few blocks away from the Academy, but Bones couldn't seem to handle the work load as well as he could.

"Has Bones been around lately?" Jim asked, scrubbing a little bit harder on the rough patch scales, causing Asher to shift a little. He muttered an apology and scrubbed a little bit softer.

_He wasn't here last night but was here the night before. He came in a little past midnight and took Delia out for about an hour. Then he came back and he said goodnight and left. _Asher turned and looked at Jim with his black eyes before continuing.

_Delia is worried about him; he didn't talk the whole flight just kind of sat in the saddle apparently. And he looked like a wobbly hatchling when I saw him leave that night. _

Jim frowned as he scrapped some scales off with his fingers. He had only seen Bones briefly the past few days and even then it was to and from his bedroom whether to sleep or to class or clinic duty.

"I'll see if I can catch him on his way to class tomorrow, I have to talk to him about the mock mission this weekend anyways" Jim took a step back and patted the now shining patch of scales. He returned the stone and oil to the equipment room and found Asher outside, crouching and waiting for Jim to climb on so they could go flying.

Luckily Jim didn't end up having to wait till the next day to find Bones. Walking into the dorm later that evening, he found Bones hunched over and frowning at a PADD at the kitchen table. The door slide shut behind Jim who walked over to the table and sat across from his friend. Folding his hands in front of him, he waited for Bones to saying something, but Bones just continued to scroll through whatever was on his PADD and occasionally type something on it. After a few minutes Jim began to fidget, drumming his fingers on the tabletop and humming a little. Bones sighed and finally looked up at Jim.

"What? They run out of pudding in the cafeteria?" Bones drawled looking back down at his PADD.

"No, but they ran out of that one Vulcan dish and I could have sworn the Vulcans almost started a riot." Jim replied grinning pleased to have gotten a response from his friend.

"Jim, there is probably only five Vulcans in the academy counting that half human one that beats you at every simulation and training exercise." Bones knew that was a sore spot for Jim, but Jim shrugged it off.

"Well it could have happened. Man I'd love to see a Vulcan lose their cool over something." Jim got up and headed to the kitchen for some water. Bones sighed and went and typed something onto his PADD.

"So you got the night off from the clinic?" Jim asked, as he came back into the room to find Bones leaning back in the chair and stretching.

"I wish." Bones grumbled. "It was an order from Dr. Passal to take the next few days off. Apparently I've been scaring the patients and their dragons with the bags under my eyes."

"I think it's your facial expressions their scared of Bones." Jim retorted stopping next to him and sliding the PADD away from Bones with his free hand and spinning it so it faced him.

"Abnormal Dragon Anatomy? Bones this is a third year class! Why are you taking it in your first year?" Jim exclaimed, eyes widening a little. Bones took the PADD back, with a grimace.

"Because if I'm going graduate with you in the three years, which I still think is a fools hope. Then I have to pile on the work load for the first two years." Bones replied going back to the PADD. Bones had laughed when Jim first told him he was going to graduate in three years and become a captain of a squad in five. That was until he found out Jim was serious, now Bones just went along with it but not without grumbling about it every chance he got.

"Speaking of classes, my survival class is holding a mock mission this weekend. Don't look at me like that Bones, it's only from Friday to Sunday and I need to get a squad together and I was wondering-"

"No." Bones cut him off mid-sentence

"But Bones! Just think of it you, me, Delia and Asher on a mission together it would be a cake walk!"

"And what about the other four people you need to pick? We just gonna forget about them?"

"Well no, but Bones I need a medical officer in the squad and I thought since you know we're roommates and you just happen to have those days off that you could help me out." Jim finished, by now Bone's eyebrow was reaching record height as he stared at Jim.

"And you think that would convince me to join you on your little mission?" Bones retorted.

"No, but I know Delia's well being will. Asher told me you've been a little shaky on your feet and you only took Delia out for an hour the night before last. Now tell me Delia doesn't deserve to go on a flight longer than an hour and only over San Francisco and back." Bones eyes softened and the tension on his shoulders eased a little. Jim grinned knowing he already won Bones over to his side and Bones seeing Jim grinning his idiot grin, grunted and stood up.

"Fine but if anything goes wrong. I'm going to hypo you with every known vaccine known on this planet." He said before retreating to his room PADD in hand.

"Oh come on Bones! what could go wrong?"


	6. Chapter 6: You were saying?

AN: So many ideas and I can't type fast enough to keep up! Reviews I love love LOVE them! So please leave me some!

* * *

"I thought you said nothing will go wrong" Bones snapped, stomping through some undergrowth to get to the clearing where Jim was. He was wet and cold and wanted to strangle Jim.

"No, I said _what can_ go wrong. There is a difference Bones." Jim replied as he looked at the scanner's screen he was holding. Bones walked over to Jim's side and peered at the screen with him.

"So where's everyone else?" He demanded of his leader.

"Well Jones went to scout out where the rest of the river leads to and maybe a open piece of sky to summon our dragons to land. I haven't been able to spot Quincy on the scanner, looks like she may have been taken by hostiles. And remember Rushnik and Lee are on their dragons scouting the area looking for the pick up point the fleet sent us." Jim responded without hesitation.

"So we are in the middle of a forest god knows where, with a few rations, no connections to the sky and the link to our dragons severed and one of our crew is missing possibly taken by hostiles. Well ain't this grand." Bones southern drawl was slowly becoming more and more pronounced the angrier he got, but he didn't care. He just wanted to be back at his dorm with his PADD doing homework, not out in a forest with a missing crewmember and a link-severing pill in his system. Bones saw the corner of the Jims mouth pull up a little, he was trying not to smile but Bones knew the kid lived for the unknown factor of life.

"Well this exercise is simple enough, we obviously need to get Quincy from the hostiles and then head to the rescue point. We have three days, before they start looking for us in earnest, and by then the pill should wear off and we can connect with Asher and Delia who are probably driving Rushnik and Lee crazy anyways." Jim shrugged it off like he shrugs everything else off.

"Great so how are we going to know where to start looking for Quincy?" Bones as Jim crammed the scanner into the backpack he had managed to grab before he sent the dragons off again.

"Well, it means we need to get back to our original position before the we fell into river." Jim said cheerfully taking off his shirt and undershirt and wringing them out.

Bones sighed and took his off as well, but leaving his undershirt on because he had some decency.

"You know we wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't listened to me and stayed away from the damn edge." Bones said wringing out his shirt harder than he needed to.

He heard Jim snort, "Bones if I listened to you every time I did something even remotely dangerous, we would lead the duller lives than a Klingon who couldn't fight."

"That made no sense."

"It did to me."

Bones rolled his eyes to the sky and put his shirt back on, it was still wet but it was better than before. He heard crackling to his left and turned to see Jones stumbling out of the brush, a little red in the face and a twig stuck in his curly red hair.

"The river goes straight into a waterfall with some very sharp rocks at the bottom about half a mile away. Good thing Dr. McCoy managed to grab that tree branch or they would be pulling out pieces of us at the bottom of it." He said pulling the twig out of his hair and looking at it with confusion. Even Bones didn't know how he managed to grab that branch and it was even more miraculous he managed to grab Jim who was already clinging to Jones.

"Yeah well don't expect any more miracles from me cause I'm all out." Bones snapped. He didn't bother waiting for a response but walked over to his med kit that was drying out in the sun. There wasn't much left to use, a hypo of pain meds half empty and some soaked gauze, the portable regenerator was swept away by river making Bones job just a little bit more difficult.

He heard Jim and Jones begin talking about the plan to get through this mission as he repacked his med kit. They were both on the command track, which meant Bones had nothing to worry about tactically anyways. And Jones was looking at Jim like if he ordered him to run into a army of Klingons armed with nothing but a stick, Jones would just ask how fast he should run. He shouldered the med kit and walked back to the duo as Jim was clapping Jones on the shoulder smiling. He turned to Bones still smiling.

"Well shall we get going? We should at least make halfway to the clearing before dark." Jim slid his shirts back on and grabbed his bag and led the way back into the forest with Bones and Jones trailing behind him.

Delia landed in the clearing a second time pausing to sniff the air. Leonard's scent was old and nothing had changed since she had been gone. She hissed softly and launched herself back into the air again. She shouldn't have let him out of her site. Shouldn't have agreed to help find the pick up point. She circled the clearing once before rejoining the squad a few miles away. They had decided to or rather the riders had decided to camp for the night on a near by cliff. The clearing could still be scene where they were but Delia wanted to be in the clearing incase Leonard came back.

_Anything? _Asher rumbled as she landed on the cliff.

_Nothing. We should have stayed in the clearing. _She growled looking over at the two riders who were looking over a scanner, arguing over something.

_This is a mission Delia they can't afford to stay in one spot and risk getting caught just for three missing squad members. _Asher said soothingly to her, touching her jaw with his nose briefly. Delia dug her claws into the ground and turned back to him.

_What have the oh so wise riders decided?_ She questioned sarcastically. Asher snorted causing smoke to rise from his nostrils.

_They've decided that they should press on to the pick up point without delay so they can talk to command and tell them about the missing crew members. _He said settling down on the ground with his forelegs dangling over the edge. Delia laid down next to him, looking back out towards the clearing.

_I'm not gonna leave him Ash and I know you won't leave Jim and Ross will set anyone on fire if they ask him to leave Jones behind._ They hadn't seen Ross since nightfall, he said he was going to search for Jones by himself and he had ignored Asher's order to stay with the squad. Since Jim was commanding officer of the mission, it made Asher commanding officer of the Dragons. But Asher didn't hold it against him, if he thought Jim or Leonard was in danger he would obey orders either.

_Lets not forget we need to find Quincy and Emma too. That seems to have been the only part of the mission gone right. _Asher added. Delia tried the link with Leonard again for what seemed like the fifth time that night and got nothing back but what Leonard called static. She snarled in frustration and stood back up, she saw Asher rolls his eyes.

_"Where are you going now? Better not be back to the clearing, if you get caught Bones will never forgive me or Jim. _Asher said looking up at her.

_I'm going to go find Ross before he wears himself out and ends up crashing somewhere. And knowing his luck breaking a wing. _She didn't give Asher a chance to respond before leaping off the cliff not bothering to open her wings till the last second.

Bones woke up to the sun shinning through the leaves and Jim pouring over the scanner by the fire they had built the night before. Jim eventually noticed he was being watched and looked up smiling.

"We should be back in the clearing by late morning if we leave now." He said standing up from the log he was siting on and brushing off his pant legs before walking over to the sleeping form of Jones.

"Did you stay up all night?" Bones asked standing up and rubbing his back wincing a little at the soreness.

"Yeah I wanted to give you and Jones a chance to get some sleep so I didn't bother waking you guys up for your watch." Jim said as he roused Jones from sleep by shaking him by the shoulder.

"Dammit Jim you can't do that! You're the leader of the exercise you need your rest to!" Bones snapped at him, kicking dirt over the fire. Jim shrugged and grabbed his bag

"I found some caffeine tablets in the side pocket of the med kit and took them last night, hope you don't mind." He said patting him on the shoulder as he walked by, "Lets go Jones we don't have all day for you to wake up." Jim shouted already parting through the bushes already. Bones helped Jones up and followed after Jim again.

They arrived to the clearing by late morning like Jim said, several spots were flat where the dragons had landed the day before and a few more spots here and there were also flat.

"Looks like they came back once or twice." Jim muttered, looking around the clearing.

"Yeah but they didn't stay the night." Bones added once more testing his link and getting nothing.

"Good, I wouldn't have wanted them to." Jim replied plucking up a piece of grass and twirling it in his fingers. Bones was about to argue why but Jones interrupted them.

"Captain I found something!" Jones called across the clearing near the edge of the forest. Bones and Jim walked over and looked at what Jones had discovered. A torn tracking bracelet and drag marks leading into a dense cluster of trees.

"It must be Quincy's which means they haven't called off the exercise yet. So we can still pull this off even with the minor setback." Jim said thinking aloud.

"We should probably try and call our dragons and get up into the air to get a better view, now that we have a general direction." Jones said patting his shirt for his whistle.

In case of emergencies and if a rider's link to their dragon was severed for some reason, squad members were issued a whistle to summon their dragons to them. But Jones patting soon became frantic as he realized his whistle was gone. Kirk patted his shirt only to find his missing as well. Bones didn't have to pat his shirt, knowing that his whistle was gone to.

"Must have lost them when we went into the river." Bones mumbled. A beeping suddenly erupted from Jims bag, Jim pulled off his bag from his shoulder and dug through it pulling out the scanner.

"Hey we got a hit! It looks like they turned on Emma's tracker." He said squinting at the little red dot that had appeared.

"It could be a trap." Jones said warily.

"Well at least its something. We can debate whether it's a trap or not later right now lets just follow it and see where it takes us." Bones said already looking into the tree in the direction of the drag marks. Jim looked up from the scanner and locked eyes with Jones.

"What do you think we should do Peter?" He asked.

"I think we should follow the tracker but not straight to it, maybe stop a little bit before and scout the area out." Jones said scratching the back of his head uneasily.

"Good call, we'll do that and see what happens from there. If we're lucky we'll catch them off guard and set Quincy and Emma free and they can reconnect with the squad and tell them to meet us back at the clearing." Jim smacked Jones on the back. "Good plan Jones." He said smiling.


	7. Chapter 7: Plan of Attack

_They've been here! Recently to! _Asher said lashing his tail back and forth. It had been so long without Jim's comforting scent that Asher thought he would have forgotten it. He flared his nostrils again and parted his mouth slightly taking it in again. There were two other scents there as well, one he immediately recognized as Bones.

_Delia! _He roared in emphasis _Bones has been here to! _Asher saw a blue shape in the sky fold its wings and dive so fast towards the clearing; he braced himself to hear the snapping of bones when it landed. But Delia was an excellent flyer and landed with barely any noise except for the sound of her wings snapping shut. Delia parted her mouth open as well drinking it in. Her eyes widened in excitement as she took in her riders scent.

_This is only a few hours old! That means they must be close! _She said excitedly. Asher was about to respond when another gold dragon landed in the clearing next to him stumbling a little as it did.

_Do you smell Peter as well? _The other gold dragon demanded, Copper eyes narrowing as he to sniffed the air.

_Yes, there is another person with Jim and Dr. McCoy. And what did I tell you about staying on that cliff? I didn't want you moving till you had at least a few hours rest! _Delia snapped at Ross who jerked back his head indignantly.

_When I saw you land I knew you had found something. So I had to come see, your rider isn't the only one missing _Ross snarled. He was tense about losing Peter. Delia had found him early that morning circling the waterfall the river fed into, eagerly searching the ground. Slowly descending lower as he grew more tired of constant flight.

AN: Writing before class and posting during class..good times! enjoy and review review!

* * *

_We would have come back for you and you know that! _Delia hissed. Asher growled silencing them both.

_Well they aren't here anymore and my bet is that Jim decided to go after Quincy since their scents follow Quincy's old one. _He said gesturing to where some drag marks led to some trees.

_Think we can get ahold of Emma at this distance? _Delia asked _they wouldn't have separated Quincy from her. Since this is only a training exercise._

_They may have since this is a training exercise and they need to make it as real as possible. _He replied. _But we can try, but I don't have a long reach with the link like you do so you may have to do it. _ Delia sighed and Asher felt her extend her link in search of Emma. Ross shifted uneasily next to them, eager to go rescue his rider. It was several minutes till Delia suddenly looked towards the trees, Asher suddenly heard a quite voice that echoed across the link.

_Cordelia? _The little voice asked

_Yes, it's me, along with Asher and Ross. Where are you? _Delia asked.

_They have use at some sort of base camp a few miles north of the clearing. I'm so sorry I should have gone back to the squad as soon as I realized it was a trap, but I was afraid they were going to hurt her. _Fear and sorrow shot through the link from Emma making Asher uneasy as if they were his own. Delia nodded her head.

_We've had some issues of our own as well but don't worry our riders are on the way to you to get Quincy._ Delia said soothingly. _We'll try to get there as soon as we can be on the look out. _

_They took Alison into the bunker and have chained me down just a few yards away from it._

_Nothing that a little fire cant handle _Asher rumbled letting out a little flame to make his point. Delia rolled her eyes and went back to focusing on Emma.

_Don't worry everything is under control. See you soon. _She broke the link with Emma. She was about to talk to Asher about a plan, when Ross suddenly took off in a crooked leap, heading north.

_Impatient isn't he? _Asher said amused.

_If this was a real mission he would get his rider and everyone else killed _Delia spat.

_Well let's catch up to him before he does just that. Call out to Max and Lucas they need to know we're on the move and they need to catch up. _Asher said spreading his wings and leaping off the ground to go after Ross.

* * *

Jim felt like he was playing cowboys and aliens as he crouched in the bush they were currently hiding in a few yards from the enemy encampment. Jim was next to him, blue eyes taking in everything and calculating the best way to approach. They were on one the side of the encampment nearest to Emma. Her legs and neck, chained to the ground, her red tail lashing back and forth in anger every time an enemy approached her. If she had smelled them on the wind, she made no acknowledgement not even the tiniest of nods.

"We need to figure out how to untie her and get her out of here to get alert the rest of the squad." Bones whispered to Jim who nodded.

"She won't leave, not without Alison." Jones said looking over at Emma. Jim knew he was thinking the same thing, if Emma was still here that means Quincy was as well.

"She will if it's an order." Jim replied slowly backing out of the bush and heading back into the trees. Bones and Jones followed after him, making sure to make as little noise as possible.

"Where dragon fire when you need it!" Kirk said once they were out of earshot of the encampment.

"They probably injected her with a fire dissolver. That's probably why she hasn't melted those chains and rescued Quincy herself." Bones replied plopping down onto a rock.

"So what do we do? We need to free Emma and make sure she leaves to get everyone else. And make sure we don't get captured in the process." Jones said anxiously. Jim waved his hand dismissively at Jones and handed him one of the bars he had dug out of the bag.

"Emma is the easy part, not getting captured will be the hard part." He said offering Bones a bar who shook is head waved it away, to nervous to eat.

"And how do you reckon we free Emma? We have a half empty hypo some gauze and whatever you have in that bag of yours." Bones sarcastically asked. Jim took a bite of the bar and spoke while he was chewing.

"That half hypo contains a few milligrams of Adrenaline and before you say no it doesn't, I already looked and it is. We just need to inject it into Emma and she can free herself." Jones looked back and forth between Jim and Bones confusion written on his face

"Why would adrenaline help Emma escape?" He asked.

"Because adrenaline will burn off the fire dissolved in her blood stream and allow her to start breathing fire again. But that would take about a minute to work and by then we would definitely be noticed." Bones said, giving Jim a look like he already knew his plan.

"Exactly, which is why one of us will cause a distraction on the other side of the camp and you can sneak over to Emma and inject her and slip away. Jones here is the fastest cadet in the Physical training class I'm sure he can escape their clutches." Jim replied smiling.

"And where will you be Jim. Better not be in that compound getting Quincy."

"Dang Bones, it's like you're a mind reader!"

* * *

Alarms blared, as Bones ran over to Emma who had lifted her head to see what was going on. When she saw Bones run over and crouch beside her, she hissed softly till Bones laid a hand on her side.

"Easy girl, it's me. Dr. McCoy." He said soothingly. He felt Emma relax a little and copper eyes regarded the hypo in his hand warily.

"Its nothing to be afraid of just a little adrenaline to burn out the fire dissolve in your system so you can escape. Now lean down so I can inject you." Bones urged or rather demanded. Emma did as she was told, jerking a little as the hypo slipped in between her scales.

"Now you should be ready to unleash hell fire in about a minute and the Captain is ordering you to leave and regroup with the squad and bring them here got it?" Emma growled softly and her eyes hardened.

"Don't you get mad at me, its an order and you don't want Alison getting in trouble because you didn't listen do you?" Bones snapped, putting the hypo back in his bag. He needed to leave before someone came by and checked on her, he stood up getting ready to run back to the trees when he noticed movement from across the encampment. Jones was viciously fighting off three of the guards, kicking and landing punches as they tried to grab him and knock him onto the ground.

"Damn it!" Bones swore, and without even thinking ran towards Jones. Without a plan of attack Bones leapt on the first person he could get to. The man went down without a sound, his head hitting the hard packed earth as he fell. In the back of his mind, Bones hoped he hadn't given the man a concussion. He didn't have time to think about that as one of the men that trying to hold down Jones left his comrade to handle Jones by himself and came towards him. Bones wasn't a very good fighter, only really learning to fight thanks to Jims many bar brawls that he's had to join so Jim wouldn't get killed and some self-defense class at the academy.

So when he sized up the man approaching him, he knew he wouldn't win. He just needed to hang on till Jim got Quincy out. There was a tremendous roar and a Emma leapt up into the sky catching both Bones and his attacker off guard. Bones recovered quicker than the other man and landed a solid punch to the man's gut before he could defend himself. The man staggered a few steps before glaring at Bones and lunging for him knocking Bones off his feet. Bones felt all the air rush out of him and gasped as the man pinned him down. He saw stars and was about to be swallowed by darkness. When suddenly the man slumped forward unconscious. He felt someone push the body off of him and a hand reached out towards him through the stars in his eyes.

It was Jones holding a phaser in one hand and smiling a little. A cut above his head bleeding profusely down his face but he didn't seem to notice or care.

"Did take you for a fighter doctor!" Jones said helping Bones up.

"Yeah," Bones wheezed, "Neither did I". He was about to ask if he had seen Jim when another roar echoed over the encampment and Bones saw a gold dragon coming straight towards him. Before he had time to react, claws wrapped around him, lifting him up off his feet and into the air. He came back down hard onto the ground. Feeling a few ribs snap and his shoulder pop as he skidded across it. Pain and adrenaline coursed through his body as he tried to grasp what was going on. He struggled to sit up but he felt a clawed foot press down on him, he looked up at a mouth full of fangs and death.

Bones didn't recognize this dragon but the way Jones was yelling at it in the distance it must have been his. Bones tried to move but the dragon snarled and snapped his fangs to close to him for comfort. The pressure from the dragon's foot was painful and was slowly increasing the pressure, it felt like his bones would snap under the weight any minute. He wanted to talk and try reasoning with the dragon but he couldn't find his tongue through the pain. Bones thought this was the end; if he couldn't get the dragon to calm down he might as well be dead. He hoped Delia or Jim for that matter wouldn't have to watch him get eaten.

The dragon stilled for the briefest of seconds before he looked up to the sky and hissed. There was a low sounding whistle and suddenly a shimmering blue replaced gold over Bone's head, and the pressure on his chest vanished. Bones gasped like a man who had just ran thirty miles but he couldn't hear himself gasping, the roaring over his head was drowning it out. Delia stood over Bones, her teeth bared in a snarl and her body positioned over Bones protectively. Blue flames escaped her mouth and licked the sides of her fangs as she stared down at the gold dragon, challenging him to approach her. The other dragon let out a slow hiss and sank his claws into the ground. He looked like he was about to lunge at Delia when suddenly another gold dragon bigger than him landed in between them.

Asher snarled at the other gold dragon and snapped at him barely missing his throat. It was a warning and the other dragon knew Asher would make good on his threat, with a growl the other dragon stepped down and bowed his head. Bones could have laughed at the whole predicament if he wasn't in so much pain. He closed his eyes and let the darkness take him as other dragons began to land in the clearing.


	8. Chapter 8: No Rest for Jim

AN: And here we are with another chapter...so many Ideas but so little time to write! Reviews= love xD

Jim leapt off of Asher before he landed, sliding a little in the mud. They had gotten back from the training mission three days ago to pouring rain and a biting wind.

_Can I go back to my nice warm stable now?_ Asher asked shaking some rain off his face and neck. But Jim was already half way down the walkway, so Asher snorted and took off. Jim hated hospitals, the sterilized smell and the memories that came with it. He would try his hardest not to come here voluntarily. Sometimes he would, just to bug Bones as he worked, getting a kick out of seeing how far he could push Bones before eyebrow started to twitch. Other times he came in cause Bones couldn't fix his injuries without the proper equipment that wasn't on hand at the dorm. And even then he was with Bones who was dragging his battered body to the nearest exam room. But he wasn't here for himself this time, he was here for Bones.

"How is he?" He asked the nurse at the front desk.

"Weren't you ordered back to your dormitory Cadet Kirk?" She asked not bothering to answer his question.

"I did go back and stayed there for a while, heck even took my dragon out for a flight and now I'm back." He said smiling his winning smile. The nurse sighed and pulled a chart up on the PADD.

"They eased him out of the medical induced coma an hour ago. He should be waking up on his own any time now." She didn't even bother to look back up at him. It didn't matter; Jim was already off and down the hallway to Bone's room before she had finished.

When Jim had heard the roar from inside the enemy compound, he smiled to himself knowing Bones had done his job. What he didn't expect was to hear several more roars a few minutes later. An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach after that and he went as fast as he could without breaking into a jog down the hall.

After freeing Alison from her makeshift prison in one of the rooms, both of them ran out to find their squad in front of the building and Delia crouched over Bones, snarling at everyone who even as much as looked at Bones. Jim's first thought was that Bones had been killed and that uneasy feeling solidified in his stomach. Sure he had heard of training accidents resulting in deaths. That was one of the negatives when working with giant fire breathing lizards.

But he would have never expected grumpy old Bones to be killed in a training accident. Jim wanted to run to Bones and see if he was still breathing but a little voice in the back of his head told him that even though Delia knew him and trusted him, she might not let even him near Bones.

Everything else was a blur after that, he vaguely remembers calmly telling Delia to stand down and to step away from Bones so they could help him. Or telling Jones to call command and get a medical team out to their location. He doesn't even know how he got up on Asher as the med team loaded Bones and one of the security guards Bones had apparently knocked out onto the backs of two of the medical dragons. He didn't even remember getting back to the Academy or his dorm for that matter.

Jim shook himself out of those memories and stopped in front of Bone's door, it was so weird to be visiting a patients room for Bones usually it was Bone visiting Jim, pissed to all hell and armed with a medical file that could be used as an example of how not to live life. The doctors told him that Bones was going to be fine and they had put him in the coma to help him heal without causing any strain. But Jim was adamant about being beside Bones in making sure he was still breathing. It wasn't till Pike came in early this morning, putting his hand on Jims shoulder and ordering him out of the room and back to his dorm for the day. Jim obliged but silently vowed to be back in a few hours. With a deep breath, he opened the door and walked in, ready to continue his vigil.

"Well you look like two kinds of crap." A scratchy voice with an accent said from the medical bed that held Bones. Jim let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and grinned for the first time in days. Bones was propped up and awake looking at him with an eyebrow raised sky high.

"What did you think I had gone and died on you?" Bones said jokingly as Jim came over with a chair and sat down.

_Yes. _"Nah, I knew you'd make it. You've still got half a bottle of whiskey back at the dorm and that alone I'm sure would be enough motivation for you not to die" Jim replied. Bones smiled and scratched at the sensory pad on his wrist. A nurse came in all smiles and sunshine despite the pouring rain outside, probably summoned by the beeping above Bones head that had started up as soon as he scratched the sensor.

She looked at Bone's medical chart at the edge of the bed and nodded to herself before putting it back down and taking the sensors off of Bones. Jim being someone, who hated awkward silences, flirted with the nurse the whole time. Making Bones roll his eyes as the nurse batted her eyelashes and flirted back. After the nurse put away the sensors, she told Bones that the doctor would be there in a few minutes to see him to make sure he was okay to be checked out of the hospital. She left but not before winking at Jim first.

"So how long was I out for?" Bones asked once Jim turned back towards him.

"About three days, you missed the debriefing after the exercise, we failed by the way. But hey no big deal there's always next year." Jim said carelessly, and watched as Bones frowned and looked away.

"Sorry I screwed it up for ya kid." He said softly, picking at the sheet with his fingers.

"Wasn't you fault, it was mine. No, don't give me that eyebrow; I should have listened to you. We would have avoided this whole thing if I had." Jim said reassuringly.

"Jim, we both know that you would have not listened to me even if I had the ability to predict the future. You have problems with authority figures remember? Now hand me that chart so I can see what's been done to me." Jim smiled weakly before leaning over and grabbing the PADD with Bone's medical chart on it. Jim had already read the medical file; he read it the first night Bones was admitted. Three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a minor back sprain that forced doctors to let it heal on its own while Bones was in a coma. Bones frowned as he scanned the list of injuries.

"Well better than I thought. It felt like more ribs were broken, maybe a cracked hip, but that must have just been bruising. But hey not everyone survives being almost being crushed by a forty ton dragon." Bones acted like it wasn't a big deal and tossed the PADD onto the end of the bed; he looked out his window and must have just realized it was raining because his frown became a scowl.

"Has it been raining the whole time, I've been out?" He asked turning back to Jim.

"Yeah, it hasn't stopped, their saying it's a storm coming down from the North. There hasn't been any good flying weather in days." Jim responded leaning back and closing his eyes. God he needed some decent sleep, maybe he could finally sleep in his own bed instead of hospital benches and chairs.

"How's Delia?" Bones asked after a few moments. This was the part Jim was hoping would cheer up Bones. He opened his eyes and leaned back forward.

"She's fine, no injuries. She's a little shaken up about you being injured and demands updates about you every hour. She also won't let anyone take her out for a flight so I've been coaxing her to at least fly beside Asher and me so she doesn't lose muscle. But other than that she takes after you in the grouchiness department and let me tell you, we are very lucky you do not also breath fire cause I have seen your grouchiness mixed with fire and lets just say that no one in the stables won't walk by her without flinching a little." Bones laughed and ran a hand through his hair. Jim felt himself relax for the first time in three days and smiled.

"You should get some sleep Jim you really do look like crap, I'm sure I'll be back in the dorm before dark." Bones said looking at Jim with what Jim called the Dr. McCoy expression but his eyes didn't hold the hardness they usually held.

"Nah, I'll wait here till they release you and we'll walk back together." As Jim was speaking, the doctor slipped had slipped in behind him. Jim realizing that it was his cue to leave, stood up.

"I'll be outside waiting and don't even try to make the doctor convince me to leave." He called as he left the room. He heard Bones huff as the door clicked shut and he smiled again knowing his friend was okay.

* * *

By the time Bones got out of the room with a clean bill of health but orders to take it easy for a few days, Jim was dozing on one of the hard plastic chairs in the lobby. Bones sighed and debated leaving Jim there seeing as how comfortable he was, He walked over deciding against it and shook Jim who startled awake, eyes flying open as he sat up.

"Come on kid lets get you to a real bed. And get me some real coffee." Bones said already walking towards the doors; Jim was up and walking beside him in seconds.

"Shouldn't you go see Delia? She probably wants to see you since you know you've been in a coma for three days." Jim said yawning, as he stood with Bones under the over hang outside the hospital as the rain slowly tapered off.

"I'll see her tomorrow, by now she's probably already heard that I'm awake. But funny thing is she hasn't tried the link yet." Bones wondered why she hadn't yet and debated doing it himself but if he did Delia would probably smother him across the link and he really didn't want to deal with that just yet. They stepped out into the now soft drizzle of rain, knowing this was probably their only chance without getting drenched. It was a good thing their dorm was such a short walk from the hospital and within a few minutes, they arrived at their dorm just as the rain started to pour once again.

"We're gonna be flooded out if this keeps up." Bones grumbled punching in the key code to the door. With a beep the door slide open and both of them walked inside and out of the rain. Jim walked into the bathroom and came back with two towels and tossed one on the counter for Bones who was messing with the replicator to get some coffee for himself and something for Jim.

"Right." Bones sighed sliding a cup of hot chocolate to Jim. Sure Jim liked coffee but the last thing Bones needed was a caffeinated Jim bouncing around the dorm. "I'm going to catch up and see what I've missed these past few days." He said as he picked up the towel off the counter and started drying his hair. He saw Jim grab his mug and smile as he smelled the chocolate and downed it in one gulp. How that kid drained the hot liquid without flinching astounded Bones. Jim sighed in pleasure and set the mug back down before speaking.

"I got your lecture notes and homework from your teachers, cause I knew you want it as soon as you woke up. And I also told them what happened and they said anything due during the three days you were out, you can turn in a little late." He said wiping some chocolate off his face and grinning. Bones felt himself relax a little now that some of the workload was taken off his shoulders. He took a sip of coffee and set the towel down on the counter.

"Thanks kid, now get some sleep before you end up sleeping on your feet." He said trying to glare at Jim but failing. Jim laughed and mock saluted him before making his way to his bedroom and shutting his door. Bones took his coffee and headed to the living room couch. He sat down wincing a little at his sore back, it was expected like the doctor had told him, so he didn't worry about it. He leaned forward and grabbed the PADD off the coffee table and began sorting out his work and emailing professors.

He also looked up the vaccines Jim would be receiving in the next year and booked him an appointment for the following day to receive all of them in one sitting.


	9. Chapter 9 Never going to be normal

AN: I would personally call this a filler chapter as I try to sort out what the hell I'm doing and how I'm going to do it. I may to a time jump to the no win scenario testing...aka the Kobyashai Maru, which will be different..then I'll go to part two of the series! So give me a few days at least while I sort this out and probably drink a lot of coffee and cry a little. Hopefully this will hold you over till then!

"Delia."

_Hmmm?_

"You know I'm perfectly okay right?"

_Yes, I know._

"So...want to let me go now?"

_When I'm good and ready. _

Bones huffed and shifted a little against Delia's side. She was coiled around him in her stable, her head resting next to his leg. She was also conveniently blocking the door and the path Bone's freedom.

"I have to go to class soon."

_Class can wait._

"Delia, I'm fine you've checked me over _twice _now and there isn't anything wrong with me, now let me go before I'm late for class." Bones stood up to make his point. He was about to take a few steps forward, but he felt teeth on the back of his shirt and was yanked unceremoniously back down against his dragon.

_I don't see why you can't skip a day of class and just stay with me_ Delia said nudging Bone's arm a little with her snout as he glared at her.

"Because I've already missed several days of class because I was in the hospital and I can't afford to miss anymore." Bones countered, lightly pushing her away, he was growing more frustrated by the minute with her. He knew she had been restless the whole time he was in hospital but this was too much. Delia looked hurt and looked away from Bones.

_I'm just worried Leonard, I don't want anything to happen to you while I'm not there._

"Delia, we are at the academy and we have a link that can connect with me all the way in downtown San Francisco." Bones countered. He heard someone enter the stables and prayed it was Jim.

Luck was on his side because the head that peeked over the stable door was indeed Jim.

"Bones we're going to be late to our maneuvers class, so stop cuddling and lets go!" He called, Delia snorted and finally to Bones relief uncoiled herself from around him. He stood up again brushing off some hay that had settled on him, Delia watched him brush off the hay and rolled her eyes and sighed, little curls of smoke escaping her nostrils as she did.

Bones looked at her one last time before he left the stall, she was still lying down but she had lifted her head and was watching him leave.

"I'll be back later to go flying okay? A nice long flight." He promised. He left not bothering to wait for a response, he got one anyways through the link. The feeling of happiness settled over him as he joined Jim who was unsaddling Asher in the stable across from Delia's.

"Lets go before she decides she isn't done with me." Bones said as he watched Jim undo the buckles under Asher and sliding the saddle off.

"Oh come on Bones give her a break! She missed you!" Jim said cheerfully patting Asher on his side and walking away. Asher settled himself down and shot out a little flame at Jim in goodbye.

"He's going to accidently set you on fire again." Bones mumbled as they left the barn and headed to class.

"Nah, he's gotten better at controlling his flame." Jim said smiling, nodding at a pair of women who turned up their noises as they walked by. Jim frowned and tugged at the front of his uniform. Bones rolled his eyes and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes I know he has, but I'm not going to treat third degrees on your ass again. I may just let you feel the burn." Jim looked at him in shock, blue eyes gone wide.

"You wouldn't."

"I would, I'd even prescribe some twenty-first century remedies." Bones knew he was being cruel but once in a while it was nice to be evil. Jim slipped out from under Bones hand and looked at him warily.

The wariness vanished and Jim started laughing, when he noticed Bones trying to hide a grin. They made there way into class and found their usual spots in the middle of the lecture hall.

Their routine was simple; Bones would take out his PADD and take tedious notes and would listen intently to the professor. Jim would begin the class by taking notes and by the end; he would be playing some game on his PADD while mimicking the teacher. When Bones had asked Jim why he never paid attention in class after the second day. Jim replied nonchalantly,

"If you think about it, would some of this tactics even help these days? I mean come on Bones, think about! Would aerial maneuver X really be helpful against a Klingon attack? I mean we've done that maneuver for years against them, you'd think the Klingons would know how to beat it by now." Bones chewed on that bit of information in his mind, and realized Jim was right, the maneuver would never work now these days. It also made Bones realize that despite Jim's carefree attitude, he was smart and worked hard on everything he did.

Maybe Jim could get out of the Academy in three years.

* * *

Jim was falling.

The wind whistled past as he plummeted to the earth. He couldn't hear anything not even Bones through his ear piece as he fell. He was falling like an arrow, arms and legs pressed tight to his side, staring straight at the ground that was approaching quickly. Suddenly Asher was parallel to him, wings pressed tight against his back as he also fell. Jim reached across towards Asher, for the straps that whipped back and forth in the wind on the saddle.

As soon as Jim grabbed ahold of one he pulled himself forward as hard as he could. He pulled himself against the saddle tightly, lying tightly across it with his feet barely in the stirrups.

Wings snapped open beside him and he felt his stomach drop as Asher became horizontal and beat his wings to regain altitude. He lay pressed against the saddle till Asher wings beat more slowly and the clouds were once again below him. He sat up grinning, adrenaline singing in his veins, he felt Asher's excitement across the link as he roared letting out a little flame. Jim's earpiece crackled to life in his right ear with static.

"… have gotten his fool self killed!..Damn kid is going to give me a heart attack." Bones voice grumbled in his ear. Jim rolled his eyes

"I'm fine Bones I'm back on the saddle. Where are you anyways?" Jim questioned looking around the open sky. Delia and Bones broke through the clouds below him as he looked around. She flew towards them and settled next to them almost touching Asher's wings with hers. Jim could see Bones now, the wind causing his hair to stick out at odd angles and his goggles didn't prevent him from glaring and scowling at Jim.

"That was the stupidest thing you've done to date, you know that?" Jim watched as Bones mouth moved but his voice was in only one of his ears.

"Oh come on Bones! I trust Asher, he would have caught me if something went wrong." Jim replied patting Asher on the neck for emphasis. Asher made a noise that reminded Jim of a cat purring in contentment.

"Yeah well next time give me a little warning."

_Didn't we give him warning? _Asher asked.

"When he means by warning, he means by telling him what we are going to do. Deliberately sliding off the saddle isn't a exactly a warning." Jim said.

_No it wasn't, he made me go below the clouds to make sure you wouldn't get yourself killed. I was enjoying a wonderful thermal till you pulled that stunt. _Delia said suddenly to both Jim and Asher.

"You know it's really uncomfortable when you do that Delia." Jim said suppressing a shiver. Delia snorted and tipped her wings away from them and started her descent.

"Well," Jim sighed. "Party is over I guess." He gave Asher the okay to also start his descent but slower than Delia's, savoring the warmth of the setting sun. By the time Asher landed, Bones was loosening the saddle for Delia who was looking at her one of her claws worriedly.

_I think its cracked Leonard. _She commented. Bones straightened up once he was out from under her and the straps were loosened. He gestured with his hand for her to bring the claw closer to him. After looking it over for a brief moment he snorted.

"You're fine, it won't cause you any trouble. You're just being vain like all women are." Bones said patting her foot. Delia grumbled something unintelligible and went back to looking at her claw herself.

"You know its weird having one dragon in my head let alone two." Jim said undoing most of Asher's.

"Yeah well I don't enjoy Asher's commentary as much as you don't like Delia's." Bones grumbled. They waved their dragons off to go hunt and headed back to the barn so they could clean out their dragons stalls while they were gone.

"I know, but it's just weird I mean I know Delia has a strong link but you shouldn't be able to hear Asher at all." Jim commented, opening Asher's stall door and pulling out the water bucket.

"Well there have been some cases of people being able to hear each others dragons, it's not rare but it's not common either." Bones said loudly from Delia's stall. Jim dumped the water outside the barn door and dragged the bucket back in.

"Plus you forget, they grew up with both of us. I think the longest they've been separated from us is was that damn mission." Bones added when Jim came back in.

"Yeah you have a point. I still think its weird." Jim said waiting for the water to refill the bucket as Bones shoved hay out of the stall. Bones stopped and looked at Jim.

"Kid, we haven't had a weird free day since we stepped off that damn shuttle."


	10. Chapter 10: Bad Dates and Jewlery

**Year 3-Spring **

Jim flopped onto his bed and groaned. He was sore and beaten all to hell but he was satisfied. It's been three years of constant training, flights and bar fights, but Jim finally got permission to take the Kobayashi Maru after passing his physical testing that day. He felt Asher on the link, pleased and content in his stable next to Delia. Asher had demanded last winter to take the stable next to Delia when the Andorian next to her had graduated from the Academy.

Delia had seemed just as pleased with the move, commenting that she was tired of having Asher yell question at her from across the barn, and annoying the other dragons to the point they began to demand a muzzle on Asher and his constant questioning. When Bones had heard he jokingly requested if he could get a muzzle for Jim to. Jim propped himself up onto his elbows and scrolled through a list of possible tactics he could use to beat the unbeatable test.

He still needed to make up a crew for the simulation; something told him that was going to be the hard part. His reputation as a daredevil and the one night stands would make it difficult to find people willing to do whatever he asked of them. Bones was an obvious choice, he would grumble but go along with it. So that was one down and seven more to go, maybe he should as Cadet Uhura. Or rather Bones could ask Uhura if she wanted to be part of the mock squad for the test. Jim would never admit it but he was mildly afraid of her and maybe because her dragon Ajamu would easily eat him, without hesitation. Jim was scrolling through the list of third year cadets also able to take the test when he heard Bones entering the dorm.

"Hey, how did the date go?" He called not bothering to look away from the PADD. He heard a clink of ice hitting glass and knew Bones was making himself a drink.

"Well went better than the last three, but ended up with the same awkward s goodbye." Bones said appearing and leaning against Jim's doorframe holding a glass of what was probably bourbon. He was wearing a white dress shirt with three buttons undone and black slacks. Jim admitted when Bones tried to look decent he looked pretty good. But now Bones looked tired and defeated, he was also frowning making him look way older than he was.

Some part of Jim was secretly delighted that Bones date hadn't gone well. Another part of Jim was angry for being glad about it.

"Well you know the old saying plenty of fish in the sea." Jim said rolling onto his back and sitting up to face Bones, who snorted and took a long sip of Bourbon.

"What are you doing anyways? Shouldn't you be jumping into several women's beds right now in celebration?" Bones asked clearly trying to get off the subject of his date.

"Well sadly I've seen all the fish in the sea, both sexes I might add and well some of them aren't to keen on seeing me again." Jim said grinning. Bones rolled his eyes.

"Right I seem to have forgotten all the women and men you've brought back only to kick out the next day in the past three years."

"You get what you can take Bones." Jim said idly. He debated asking Bones about the Kobiyasha now, but something told him that it would probably wouldn't be the best thing at the moment.

"Don't think to hard kid, you'll get gray hairs quicker." Bones said sarcastically. Jim pulled himself out of his thought process and smiled again, a little bit weaker this time.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Jim asked casually already forming a plan.

"Well I was going to see about getting a bangle made or something for Delia. she seemed jealous that some of the dragons have jewelry from their riders. Damn her instinct to horde shiny objects" Bones said frowning, probably calculating the cost of said item. Jim chuckled, The legends were true, dragons loved shiny objects.

Many of the dragons in the Academy owned one piece of jewelry from their riders, but some of the professor's dragons had more than one piece since they weren't in a squad anymore. Delia and Asher never brought up the subject to Bones and Kirk knowing that they had so few credits. But the way their eyes got when they spotted a piece of jewelry was all Jim and Bones needed to know that they wanted jewelry of their own.

"There's that dragon jewel store on the pier in town. We can go there tomorrow maybe even take Delia and Asher to the beach or something if it's nice weather tomorrow." Jim replied. Bones nodded and took another sip,

"Sounds like a good plan, lord knows those two need to get some exercise other than flying." Bones pushed himself off the doorframe and began to walkaway.

"I'm going to bed, see you in the morning." He said already down the hall to his room.

"Night Bones."

"Night Kid." And with that Bones shut the door to his bedroom.

Jim flopped back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. Asher came on the link then, they had learned how to separate themselves from Bones and Delia giving them privacy they once had long ago.

_I don't see why you just tell him already. _Asher said amused.

"Because if I tell him now he'll say no instantly He hates scenarios." Jim thought back, scrunching his eyebrows together and frowning as he did.

_I meant the other thing. _Asher responded with amusement.

"Asher, shut up."

* * *

Bones refused to flinch at the price tag he was holding of a bracelet he thought about getting Delia. Since when did synthetic gold get so pricey? He glanced over at Jim who was talking to the owner of the store over a silver ring for Asher, arguing that yes, there was a dent in the metal work and he should get it half off. The owner was tough old man and deflected Jim's argument with practiced ease.

Bones sighed and dropped the tag and continued to look around, with so few credits he was in the back of the store where the less fashionable pieces therefore cheaper pieces were held. He was looking at a bangle that would coil around the top part of a dragon's leg when he felt a presence next to him. He turned to look and it was indeed Jim looking like he had lost the battle but not the war with the owner of the shop.

"Find anything good?" He asked eyeing one of the pieces to the one Bones awas looking at.

"No, everything is either to expensive or too out of fashion for even Delia to ignore." Bones replied.

"What about these?" Jim was holding picking up to conjoined bracelets, one gold had the sun and stars etched into it and was embedded with amber stones. The silver one had the moon and stars etched into it with mother of pearl as its stone.

Bones shrugged,

"They may like it, use you bargaining skills and see how many credits you can get off it." Bones said eyeing the tag that was dangling off of them.

Jim took off like a kid sent on an important mission straight to the counter where the man was polishing a tail chain. Bones watched as Jim employed every known bargaining tactic he had and finally the owner resigned and held out his hand and Jim shook it grinning and waved Bones over.

"This fine gentleman has agreed to give us half off if we buy insurance on them." Jim said proudly. Bones huffed and pulled out his wallet and slid his credits toward the owner, who scooped them up and waited while Jim dug for his wallet in his jacket. Jim grinned and set his credits on the counter, and with a grunt the man ringed them up and gave them some forms to fill out for insurance.

Jim and Bones exited the shop with their dragon's bracelets to be shipped to the barn in less than two hours, with explicit instruction for them not to be shown to their dragons. The wind was kicking up from the bay as they waited for the bus to come pick them up.

"You still up for the beach?" Jim asked while Bones was still mourning for his month worth of credits lost.

"Yeah, I guess it is a three day weekend as of tomorrow might as well beat the crowd." Bones grumbled wrapping his jacket around him.

"Good cause I need to ask you something."

Bones heart stopped for the briefest of moments.


	11. Chapter 11: A Important Question

AN: ALMOST THERE FOLKS!

* * *

Asher plummeted straight into the ocean not bothering to slow himself down before he hit the water. Delia glided in like a swan, settling herself into the water as Asher breached the surface and cleared the water out of his nose. Delia leaned away from the spray of water and shook herself to settle her wings.

_Remember the last time we were here? _Asher said sinking to into the water letting out a content sigh.

_We haven't been here since Jim had to jump in to save your scaly hide from being dragged out to sea. _Delia replied looking into the water, watching the fish swim under her. Asher snorted and sank completely under the water, disappearing into the depths. Delia prepared herself for the under water ambush that Asher would likely try to pull. She was surprised though when Asher popped up a few yards behind her, something glittering in his mouth.

_Is that a fish? _ Delia asked incredulously, swimming towards him as he chewed and swallowed.

_Well yes. _Asher said smugly running his tongue over his teeth. Delia rolled her eyes and looked back to the beach where two little dots sat in the sand. She knew it was rude to intrude and plus Leonard and Jim would know immediately if she did. But she wanted to know what they were thinking and almost did it before chiding herself. She turned back to Asher who was also staring at their riders sitting on the beach.

_What do you think they're talking about? _Asher wondered, his eyes still on the beach.

_Jim is probably dancing around asking Leonard to be on his Kobayashi Maru crew. _ Delia commented.

_And Bones is probably sensing something is wrong and trying to weasel it out of him. _Asher replied turned back to look at Delia.

_When do you think they'll talk about the other issue? _He mused_, _drawing back his lips in a rather fierce looking smile. Delia snorted,

_Probably, when that Vulcan professor shows emotion. _Delia idly splashing the water with her front foot watching the ripples form and disappear. Asher rumbled something unintelligible about the Vulcan and looked at Delia mischievously. He raised a wing and flicked some water towards her, she jerked her head back in surprise and then narrowed her eyes at Asher. She retaliated and turned herself sideways and used her tail to push a wave of water at him. With a roar, Asher reared up used both his wings to send a wave of water at Delia.

* * *

Bones and Jim sat on the beach watching their dragons splash and lunge at each other in the water. Bones chuckled,

"Acting like hatchlings." He said.

"Well they are only three years old Bones." Jim said, burying his feet in the sand. He had abandoned his shoes along with Bone's and the saddles where they had landed. Bones raised an eyebrow still looking out at the dragons.

"Hasn't it really only been three years? Feels like twenty." He cracked his neck for emphasis. Jim rolled his eyes,

"You aren't that old Bones, you still got a spring in your step." Jim said wirily.

"Yeah a spring that isn't to springy anymore." Bones retorted. They fell into silence for a while and Jim watched Bones. Jim knew Bones was a good-looking guy, but as the setting sun reflecting off the ocean gave Bones an unearthly look. His dark brown hair almost black in the light and his hazel eyes more green than brown at the moment. He had a small smile on his face as he watched the dragons play. Bones had a little pudge in the middle and more wrinkles than a hundred year old man when he first joined dragon fleet. But three years of hard training and a regular diet of synthetic food has created a leaner, younger looking Bones.

Jim felt butterflies start up in his stomach. He was torn between grabbing Bones and smashing his lips onto his own and forget about asking about the Kobayashi Maru and just have a good old fashioned make out with Bones on the beach. But he doubted Bones would appreciate it, seeing as his _female _date hadn't gone so well last night. So he settled for idling toying with his jacket string. Bones must have sensed Jim running circles in his mind and turned to look at him.

"Something on your mind kid?" He asked raising an eyebrow in question.

"Uhh yeah…its just I was wondering…" Jim drifted off not quiet ready to say anything. The butterflies had multiplied in his stomach making it hard to think, he sighed and scratched the back of his head.

It was now or never.

"Bonescanyoutakethekobayashimaruwithme." He said in a sing of breath. Bones stared and his eyebrow rose higher than thought possible.

"Care to repeat that? I think I only heard one word out of all that." He asked amusedly.

"Bones please can you take Kobayashi Maru with me." Jim all but pleaded, using his puppy eyes to their fullest capabilities. Bones seemed to relax suddenly, which surprised Jim who expected him to clench up at the slightest mention of the exercise.

"Jim," He sighed. Jim braced himself for a long rant, but what came out of Bones mouth threw him for a loop.

"I guess I can't tell you no with that expression on your face." Jim's thought process faltered and he looked at Bones like he had suddenly become a Klingon in front of him.

"You'll do it!" He exclaimed.

"I'll think about it, you've got a week to make a crew. I'll give you an answer by then." Bones said standing up and stretching. Jim grinned so wide he thought his face would split. He leapt up and grabbed by the hand and turned Bones to face him. He felt Bones immediately tensed up but Jim was already in motion and smashed his lips against Bone's.

Jim's first thought was that Bone's lips were perfect; his second thought was that he had just forcibly kissed his best friend without warning and Bones would probably kill him. But that second thought shattered as Bones started to kiss back, relaxing as he did. Jim wanted to grab bones and bring him closer he was so thrilled with the response from Bones.

But he restrained himself. Knowing that it may be a little too much all at once, and settled with deepening the kiss. Bones responded by pushing back a little making Jim's head spin in little. He noted that Bones smelled like whiskey and that old aftershave he insisted on using after shaving the old fashioned way instead of taking a beard represent. He made a mental note to buy thirty bottles so Bones never ran out again. Jim realized as he kissed Bones that he needed to breath soon, which meant Bones probably did to. They broke apart gasping a little and Jim saw that Bones was a little red in the cheeks.

"Bones, are you blushing?" Jim asked incredulously.

"No," he growled "It just wind burn, did you not feel the frost in the air when we were flying here?" Jim laughed at the excuse and Bone's blush deepened. Jim was about to lean in kiss Bones again for the sheer joy of it but a two loud thumps and a flurry of sand announced the arrival of their dragons.

_I think I owe you a cow Delia. _Asher said shaking water off, Jim felt pure joy radiate off his dragon and couldn't help but share it.

_You owe me two cows that was the deal remember. _Delia retorted sidestepping away from the water droplets, Jim couldn't feel her emotions; that part of the link would always be between a dragon and their rider. But Delia's eyes were bright and she was moving her tail back and forth like happy dog.

"You had a bet going?" Bones said scowling, looking at his dragon trying to be serious but failing when it never reached his eyes.

_It was a small one. I bet two cows that Jim would ask about the Kobayashi Maru before kissing and Asher thought that Bones would say something before hand about his feelings toward you. We even had a forfeit bet that if you both confessed at the same time we would split an ox between us. _Delia replied, pleased that she had kept such a secret from her rider.

"How long have you both known?" Jim asked stepping back from Bones a little.

_Since you wouldn't leave his side in the hospital and followed him like a lost puppy for two straight weeks. And Bones let you do it without complaint. _Asher said grinning showing his teeth.

_Wasn't that hard to see, we just didn't want to shove you both into it, quiet literally as a matter of fact, because Asher was all for nudging you into each others arms. _Delia added giving Asher a pointed look, Asher shrugged and looked away sheepishly. Jim and Bones both laughed and headed over to their dragons, never really leaving each other's side.

As they re-saddled their dragons, Jim's thoughts crowded his mind once again. Now that the high from kiss was fading away, he began regretting the kiss altogether. Thinking that he had just ruined his friendship with Bones over an impulsive move. He tightened a saddle strap a little hard and felt pain flash across the link. He mumbled an apology and sighed. And got ready to apologize to Bones,

"Hey Bones, I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that I-" Jim felt lips against his silencing him mid sentence, the words died on his tongue and his mind went completely blank. Bones pulled away from the kiss and rested his forehead against Jim's; surprised blue eyes meeting bright hazel ones.

"Stop thinking so damn much kid your giving me a headache." He all but growled before kissing Jim again.

Jim didn't regret the kiss anymore.


	12. Chapter 12: Early Morning Chats

The sudden cold made Bones shiver.

"Dammit Jim stop messing around and get into bed." He growled still half asleep. He felt the bed sink beside him and a very cold body replaced the cold air.

"Jesus," Bones said flinching when fingers lazily walked up his back causing Goosebumps to break out. "Did you jump into the ocean while you were out?"

Jim made a noise between a whine and a sigh and buried his face into Bones back. Bones rolled over to face Jim, ready to shove Jim off the bed for waking him up but when he turned over he couldn't see Jim. In fact, Jim had yanked the covers over his head, with only a little bit of blonde hair sticking out. Bones rolled his eyes, and focused on the holo-clock on the dresser. It read three am and Bones had to be at the clinic at six.

"You left the field at five Jim, why did it take you so long to get from commanding offices and back?" He questioned the mass under the comforter. Bones didn't understand any of the mumbling coming from under the comforter except for the word "Distracted." Bones sighed and yanked the covers up with one hand and slid under them to get level with Jim. He was greeted with one blue eye and the smell of alcohol. Bones held his breath to keep from swearing, noticing that Jim's right eye was swollen shut with dark bruising around the area already forming. There was a cut on his forehead that still had dried blood on it. There was a slight pink tinge to Jim's cheeks, which to Bones meant that Jim had drank well over his limit.

"Christ Jim what happened." He demanded reaching out to touch Jim's face to see if anything was broken. Jim jerked back like he'd been shot before Bones could touch him. Bones drew his hand back, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Cupcake, insulted me mum." Jim said in a horrible British accent and broke into a fit of giggling, he snuggled into Bone's chest, trying to get warm. Bones tried to push him away but when Jim wanted to snuggle he wouldn't easily be dissuaded.

"Did he say something about Kobayashi Maru?" He felt Jim stiffened at the question, his face buried against Bone's chest he couldn't tell see his face. Bones sighed knowing that was the real reason Jim had come back beat up and drunk.

"It's an unbeatable test Jim," He said resting his chin on top of Jim's head. "no one expects you to win. You were crazy to even do it and damn near insane to request it a second time." Bones said softly. The second time hadn't gone better than the first, with half the squad out before the five-minute mark and barely a dent in the enemy squad. Jim didn't said a word,his face void of emotion as the report was read off when they had landed. After that he had jumped onto Asher saying he needed to go the commander offices and would meet Bones at the dorm later.

"Said I couldn't beat the test like I couldn't beat him. Well I managed to prove that I could beat him." Bones felt Jim smiling and he rolled his eyes.

"Your lucky you didn't get killed or you thick head bashed in."

"I wanna take it again." Jim mumbled as a response, ignoring him.

"Yeah and pigs really want to fly." Bones retorted. Jim's head clashed his Bones jaw as Jim looked up at Bones glaring. Bones bit back a curse as pain made his jaw ache.

"I'm going to pass that test Bones." Jim said clearly, his drunken stupor suddenly gone. Bones rubbed his jaw trying to ease the dull throb; he bit his tongue from saying something stupid like how the damn kid just needs to admit defeat. He looked at Jim who was still glaring at him, he was challenging Bones argue with him and Bones almost accepted the invitation. Bones looked at Jim and saw worry in his eyes. Like he was waiting for Bones to tell him he couldn't do it and that Bones wouldn't join him again for the third time. Bones stopped rubbing his jaw and shut his eyes, he didn't want to upset Jim more than he already was. He settled for kissing Jim softly on the forehead like a parent would to a worried child.

"Yeah, you will kid even if it takes you thirty years to do it." Jim snorted and snuggled back into Bones chest, in a few moments his body relaxed as he fell deeper into sleep. Bones soon followed him with his arm protectively over Jim.


End file.
